currently owns HT with marz 44/140mm, so i'm thinking on such variant until getting new 1ne.

thanks!

Personally I'd recommend a 160mm fork for the spitfire to really get the most out of it (150mm if more XC focused). A 140mm Marz44 has an axle to crown height of 507mm I believe, which is certainly on the short end for this frame. With the 44 the head angle will be steepened by about 1.5 degrees for each setting (so 67.5-68.5) which means you will loose that slack geometry confidence, and the BB will drop about 10mm. You could slacken the head angle out with an angle set, but that would just drop the BB further. So while it will work, I'd certainly recommend a fork with an a-c in the 520-545mm range.

If you do stick with the 44, I would recommend running an external lower headset cup to help raise the stack height a bit.

#edit# I just realised that the a2c on the 44 depends on what model and also what year you have, you can find the information for your fork here Tenneco Marzocchi Suspension

mine one is 44 RC3 Ti / 2010 and it has "fork lenght" (hope that IS AtC ) 514mm. i had already thought on extended lower cup. some kind of cane creek S3 +, i can't post a links

Fur sure that is subject to change (would prefer 55 RC3 Ti 'cause i'm in love with those plushiest coil RC3 series) but it's not so easy to find one. There are some offers but 1.5 steerer is uncompatible with spitty

mine one is 44 RC3 Ti / 2010 and it has "fork lenght" (hope that IS AtC ) 514mm. i had already thought on extended lower cup. some kind of cane creek S3 +, i can't post a links

Fur sure that is subject to change (would prefer 55 RC3 Ti 'cause i'm in love with those plushiest coil RC3 series) but it's not so easy to find one. There are some offers but 1.5 steerer is uncompatible with spitty

I ran a marz 44 RC3 TI MY2010+external lower cup when i first got my spitfire V1. Lots of pedal strikes and a front end much lower than i like.

Now I run a Marz 55 RC3 TI MY2010+external lower cup. This how ever gets the front end a bit high but way better tho, and a lot less pedal strikes!

When I got my Cotic this summer (with a Stoy as an upgrade), not only did BOS send the wrong weight spring, they'd fitted offset bushings. When I contacted R53 I found that they didn't deal with BOS anymore and had to go to BOS direct.

BOS could apparently not care less about having me as a customer. They weren't interested in swapping or even just taking back the spring and bushings, the only correct weight spring they had was used, but I couldn't have a discount, even used it was full price or nothing.

When it turned up not only was it used (visible wear, numbers/markings long gone), it was the wrong length and didn't fit the shock. So I called quits and got a Manitou spring.

On the phone to them the whole impression I got was that I was some kind of annoyance for daring to ask for what I had paid for, nevermind that the shock was nearly Ģ600. It's gone on Ebay since then, on a Monarch RT3 now and it's really not that much better on a short travel bike.

By contrast, I had great service from Magura this summer when the spring on my 2009, second hand Thors went pop.
To quote Mike from Magura UK, "I've checked the serial numbers on your fork and that one came from a faulty batch, we've got a few spare springs so you can have one as a sort of good will type... thing,"
I told them it was second hand, they still repaired it free (and I ended up buying a service anyway because I figured it could use some love).

The sizing still has me a bit boggled... I'm 180cm, and currently ride a large Spitfire with a 50mm stem and the seat fairly forward on a KS supernatural post. I see the reach on the medium gen 2 spitfire is only 3mm shorter than the gen 1 large so it seems like to keep a similar feel for the attack position I would want to drop down a size. I'm worried that going to a medium will create too cramped of a cockpit when seated since ETTs haven't grown, but like Keith mentioned previously perhaps the bent seat tube will cancel this out. Anyway, the medium seems really small for someone my height, but maybe I'm just too old skool. Anyone able to give some insight?

As an aside, this is my second Banshee (had a Rune previously) and the second one that chews up pivots and wears the pivot faces despite careful frame assembly, but I just love the ride of the damned things. It's like some horrible love/hate relationship with a series of drug-addicted strippers or something.

For people complaining about a lack of playfulness, I think you may have your bars too low. I know I had my setup pretty slammed and felt like the bike was too dead. I put some 38mm rise sunlines on there and the bike came alive on the descents with no real negative impact on the climbs - still leaning forward the same, my hands are just in a different spot.

The sizing still has me a bit boggled... I'm 180cm, and currently ride a large Spitfire with a 50mm stem and the seat fairly forward on a KS supernatural post. I see the reach on the medium gen 2 spitfire is only 3mm shorter than the gen 1 large so it seems like to keep a similar feel for the attack position I would want to drop down a size. I'm worried that going to a medium will create too cramped of a cockpit when seated since ETTs haven't grown, but like Keith mentioned previously perhaps the bent seat tube will cancel this out. Anyway, the medium seems really small for someone my height, but maybe I'm just too old skool. Anyone able to give some insight?

I'm inclined to suggest that a medium might be better fit for you since you ran the saddle forwards in the rails on your old large. The cockpit ends up being a bit longer (around 5-10mm, depends on final saddle height) when you have saddle up at full height. so if you run the saddle in middle of rails then I think you'll end up with about the same cockpit length and will have the ergonomic fit that you seem to like which isn't so reached out. thats my $0.02

@ FullMonty
I am 180/181 cm tall with 85/86 cm inseam and, coming from a medium Wildcard, decided finaly to go with a medium Spitfire V2, at least after some communication with Keith.
I always feel good on medium Sizes, never cramped but upright enough to go with 50 mm Stem and 38 mm Riser Bars with no Spacers, to have a nice and controlled Handling. Although I could go with large too ...
I can only afford one Bike which has to excel in all Areas, so in the end I like to have a more BMXish and playfull Feel overall, plus the needed Benefit of great Standover and a not overly long Seattube, which is mostly the Dealbreaker for me with large Sizes.
Letīs say I am old skool because Iīm used to shorter Freeridebikes ...

I am planning on running the DB air for its tunability. The Team Geronimo guys were running them last year on the 2012 Spitfires and used them for everything from dual slalom events to trail riding to big mountain enduro events with a few tweaks to the set-up to best suit each particular event or ride. I feel like the versatility of the DB air makes it the best choice in my book.